The Beautiful Dreamer
by Torqueo Animadverto
Summary: A oneshot about dreams. A oneshot about the need to follow them. A oneshot about needing them.


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Yeah, yeah, yeah. Forever Starts Tonight, and all that. But I felt the need. The need for speed?, you may ask yourself. No. The need for a oneshot.

**Disclaimer: Disclaimed. **

* * *

"_It takes a lot of courage to show your dreams to someone else."_

_-Erma Bombeck-_

"Class, we have a new student today." The pretty, red-haired teacher told you and your class mates as you all got accommodated at the play stations. The brown-haired girl with funny eyes was introduced as Massie, last week. There was a strong looking blond whose name was Kristen two days after Massie's arrival. And now, the fiery red head today, whose way of speaking and what she said grabbed yours -and everyone else's attention. Apparently, her name was Dylan Marie Marvil and she liked to be called Dylan. Not Dylly or any variations of the name. But none of those girls -not even the teacher- held a candle to your best friend, Claire Lyons. She had very long, blond hair that decided it would be curly today and wanted to cascade itself down her back. Her blue eyes were like looking into the clear crystal glass that your mom had put waaaayyyy up high on a shelf so you and your friend, Derrick, wouldn't try to knock it over. Again. Her eyes were so clear, but with the slightest tinge of blue in the back of them. They were amazing.

"Hey Joshy?" Claire asked as she pounded her orange play-doh on the small table with a plastic mallet.

"Yeah, Claire?" You asked, raising your voice slightly, due to Layne Abeley's hissy-fit about not getting designer clothes in the dress up area.

"Do you ever think about dreams?" She questioned you with a breathy voice. This was one of the things that you loved about Claire. She could just be so...deep. And that was saying a lot for a four year old.

"What kinda dreams? The ones you have when you sleep, or-"

"No, not those." She cut you off, frustrated. "The ones like..what do you want to be when you grow up." She concluded with a slight bite of her lip. Almost everyone hated those questions and Claire Lyons knew it. They were basically the cliché of pre-K. Everyone gave the same answers. The girls either wanted to be nurses, or stay-at-home mothers. The boys wanted to be fire-fighters, or doctors, and hardly anyone did anything to achieve this greatness. "Well, you know what I want to do?" She started, pushing her play-doh aside and rested her head on her hands, propped up by her tiny, power-puff girl band-aid covered elbow.

"What do you want to do, Claire?" You reply back to her and mimic her position.

"I want to travel around the world" She said proudly like it was a declaration of undying love.

You try not to draw back in surprise as she looks at you with an expectant smile on her face. This was definitely different than the mediocre "aspirations" of the young children all around them.

"What do you think?" She asks you shyly, looking up through her blond lashes. "Actually, no. I don't really care what you think. I don't really care what anyone thinks. It's my dream and I'm going to follow it no matter what."

Claire Lyons doesn't know it, but she just laid down the law.

* * *

"_Ambition is a dream with a V8 engine."_

_-Elvis Presley- _

"Claire!" You yell to your best friend of five years from across the street. Her blond head with the tan, Indiana Jones hat on perks up. She notices you and jumps off the porch, a small crimson flashlight caught in a tight grip.

"Hi Joshy! What do you want, you're interrupting my explorin' time." She says enthusiastically and finished off with a scowl on her face. Today was Claire's birthday. She had a big party with everyone on the block to serenade her as she blew out eight candles. Normally, girls are happy on their birthdays. They get all the attention, a huge cake, presents, and an ecstatic smile on their faces. Just like Allie-Rose last week. But Claire certainly wasn't. No, she was mad as h-e double hockey sticks when she remembered her birthday was today. This was the last day before the grass would be cut by the cute neighbor boy down the road, Harris Fisher.

"Look at what I got you," you say, holding the hard-back book in front of her face. Her crystal blue eyes light up as she slowly reads the title.

"A world atlas?!" She squeals and rips it from your hands while simultaneously giving you a hug. "But Joshy, you already gave me my compass!" She informs you, a wide smile still on her face.

"I know. But you're going to need both when you travel all around the world. Now you can start making plans." You tell her and she looks so shocked when she hears that you remembered that day in pre-school. She leans in close to you and -_smack_- goes the sound of her lips on yours.

Realizing what she just did, she blushes redder than the flashlight that just rolled onto the sidewalk and runs away, leaving you, well... rather dumbfounded.

Claire Lyons didn't know it, but she just gave you your birthday present, even though it's four months away.

* * *

"_Hold fast to dreams. For if dreams die, life is a broken-winged bird that cannot fly."_

_-Langston Hughes-_

Five years pass and Claire Lyons is becoming more distant from you. She's getting in with the cool crowd of Layne Abeley, Kristen Gregory, Kori Gedman, and Dylan Marvil. She likes clothes, lip-gloss, and Cam Fisher.

You watch her every day from the boys table in the cafeteria and wonder, _where did the eight year old girl go who always took a compass, the world atlas and a flashlight with her, __everywhere? Where did your friend go?_

You try to talk to Claire about these things, but she brushes them, and you off like a k-Mart sweater marring her perfect, Dior attire.

Claire Lyons doesn't know it, but she's slowly breaking your heart.

* * *

"_Lose your dreams and you'll lose your mind."_

_-Mick Jagger-_

Two more years pass and the young girl you used to know is no longer there. At all. Of course, she's there physically. But since her age twelve and an invite to Layne Abeley's Friday night sleepover, she's not the same dreamer she was.

Now, the fifteen year old is constantly getting asked out on dates, going on said dates, going out with the askers, and after a few months -maybe weeks, maybe days depending on the person- breaking up with them.

One thing that has stayed the same though, is the fact that Claire Lyons doesn't need anyone's approval for what she wants to do.

She's never needed anybody.

* * *

"_Many have changed so much that _

_they have lost the _

_magic of the dream _

_that carried them on their own bootstraps."_

_-Peter Abrahams-_

Two years later and Claire Lyons is practically not there physically. One year ago, she got asked out by the new boy, Austin. A strapping young man that everyone loves and seems to love everyone right back. Midnight black hair, supposedly beautiful green eyes, and a cocky smirk that annoys the shit out of you. But the thing is, he has a temper on him that could rival murderers.

Claire Lyons now comes to school covered in bruises that she so desperately tries to hide.

The only thing Claire Lyons needs now, is CoverGirl's true-blend foundation/cover-up.

* * *

"_The day dreams are lost, the day the dreamer is lost."_

_-Author unknown-_

Since that fateful day one year ago, Clarie Lyons has seemed to be dead inside. Thirteen months, twelve days, and eighteen hours ago, Austin Wayne was found beating Claire Lyons. For three hours, Claire suffered blow after crushing blow at the hands of a man that was supposed to love her. Three years of brutal beatings accumulated the injuries of: a broken wrist, two cracked ribs, internal bleeding, three broken fingers, and severe vaginal trauma.

And all hope was lost when the dreamer lost the dream.

* * *

**Okay. That turned out waaay more angsty than I thought it would be. Moral of the story: you figure it out. Review with your answers. **


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